Covered hopper car end construction

ABSTRACT

A HOPPER RAILROAD CAR END CONSTRUCTION COMPRISING END STUB CENTER SILL SPACED AWAY FROM ABD OUTWARDLY OF THE HOPPER SLOPE SHEET, A CAR UPPER END BEAM ATTACHED TO THE SLOPE SHEET AND TO THE END OF THE ROOF, A HORIZONTAL SHEAR PLATE BEAM MOUNTED ON THE STUB STILL, A TRANSVERSELY EXTENDING UPRIGHT BOLSTER WEB BEAM MOUNTED ON THE SHEAR PLATE AND JOINING WITH THE SLOPE SHEET, AN UPRIGHT END PITCHING STRUCTURE CONNECTING THE ROOF UPPER END BEAM WITH THE OUTER END OF THE SHEAR PLATE BEAM AND THE OUTER END OF THE STUB CENTER SILL, AND AN UPRIGHT INNER BOLSTER PITCHING STRUCTURE ON THE BOLSTER WEB BEAM AND ATTACHED TO THE STUB SILL AND CONNECTING THE INNER END OF THE SHEAR PLATE BEAM AND THE UPRIGHT BOLSTER WEB PLATE BEAM WITH THE SIDES OF THE CAR.

Sept. 20, 1971 M. STARK COVERED HOPPER CAR END CONSTRUCTION 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 30, 1968 lnyentor |V|0rv|n Stork Sept. 20, 1971 M, STARK 3,605,635

COVERED HOPPER CAR END CONSTRUCTION 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 30. 1968 H Inventor Morvln S'tork AT orney United States Patent US. Cl. 105-248 11 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A hopper railroad car end construction comprising an end stub center sill spaced away from and outwardly of the hopper slope sheet, a car upper end beam attached to theslope sheet and to the end of the roof, a horizontal shear plate beam mounted on the stub sill, a transversely extending upright bolster web beam mounted on the shear plate and joining with the slope sheet, an upright end pitching structure connecting the roofupper end beam with the outer end of the shear plate beam and the outer end of the stub center sill, and an upright inner bolster pitching structure on the bolster web beam and attached to the stub sill and connecting the inner end of the shear plate beam and the upright bolster web plate beam with the sides of the car.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of this invention to provide for a vehicle end construction such as the end construction for a hopper railroad car where buff and draft forces are taken through a center sill-less arrangement wherein the loads are transferred from the stub sills by way of upright end pitching members to the upper end beams of the car and to the side sills and side plates of the car, shear plate means sending the load forces to the sides of the car. It is. a further object of this invention to provide for a novel end of car construction where the buff and draft forces are transmitted to the sides of the car from a stub center sill arrangement at each end of the car by way of end pitching members and inner bolster web pitching mem bers and shear plate means to the upper ends of the car and to the sides of the car. Another object of this invention is to provide an open type no torque box type of construction where no loads are accepted by the slope sheet but rather the loads are distributed to the side portions of the car. It is a further object of this invention to provide for a unique end of car construction having an open type no torque 'box where the shear plate does not join with the slope sheet and does join with the bolster web which in turn joins with the slope sheet to permit easy access to the open type no torque box for welding thereof and to provide for a high strength lightweight end of car construction.

These and other objects will become apparent from reference to the following description, attached drawings and appended claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the end of car construction of a hopper car;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of an end portion of a hopper car;

FIG. 3 is an end view of a hopper car; and

FIG. 4 is a side elevational view of a complete hopper car.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT With reference now to the drawings, there is shown an end of hopper car construction of the type shown in co pending US. patent application of John H. Spence and William Van Der Sluys, Ser. No. 739,319 filed June 24,

3,605,635 Patented Sept. 20, 1971 1968, now Pat. No. 3,557,713 issued Jan. 26, 1971, which co-pending application is incorporated herein by reference. the railroad hopper car 2 has end portions 3 and also comprises a top 4, sides 5 and ends 6. The roof 4 is provided with roof sheeting 7. Each side 5 is provided with side sheeting 8 which spans vertically between the upper side plate 9 and the lower side sill 10. Side posts 11 extend between and are connected to each side sill 10 and side plate 9. A bolster side post 12 is aligned with the bolster web or bolster beam 13 at each end of the car. Each bolster web beam 13 spans and is connected to each longitudinally extending side sill and is fixedly mounted (by welding) on the horizontal end shear plate 14 mounted on a respective stub center sill 15. 'Each bolster web 13 at each end of the car extends transversely of the car and upwardly to have an outwardly turned end flange 16 being attached to the downwardly inwardly sloping transversely extending hopper slope sheet 17. Each slope sheet at each end of the car has its outer end portions merging with the upper outer end beam structure 18 which is fastened to the roof 4. The end beam 18 is a generally upright transversely extending flat member against which rests two upwardly extending L-shaped or angle beams 19 and 20 defining the end pitching structure, the lower end of which is attached to the end sill 21 at each end of the car. The lower ends 19a and 20a of the end pitching members or finger elements 19 and 20 straddle and are attached to the longitudinally extending side portions of the hat section shaped stub center sill 15. The inner end 22 of each shear plate beam 14 and the inside 24 of each bolster web beam 13 and the inner end portion 25 of each stub sill 15 supportingly carry angle shaped bolster pitching members 26 and 27. Each of these inner pitching members 26 and 27 form the pitching structure at each end of the car and the respective transversely extending flange of each member 26 or 27 is fixed against the inside surface of a respective shear plate 14 and the lower ends 26a and 27a of each of the pitching members 26 and 27 straddle and are attached to the inner end 25 of the stub sill 15. The upper ends of each of the pitching members 26 and 27 are attached to the inner side portion of the bolster web beam 13 and the upper ends of each of the end pitching members 19 and 20 are attached to the outside face of the end beam structure 18. The bolster web beam 13 at its lower end, the shear plate 14 at its inner end, and the stub center sill 15 at its inner end are all spaced outwardly of the slope sheet structure 17 to provide an open space 28 between these members and the end slope sheet 17, this space 28 being of sufiicient extent as to permit affixing or fabricating of the end slope sheet, the bolster web and the shear plate and center sill together as by welding or the like to have the bolster web, the end slope sheet, and the shear plate at each end of the car define an open no torque box arrangement to allow any loads introduced at the stub sills to be reacted upon by fingers or pitching members 19, 20, 26 and 27. Each end of the car is further provided with the usual vehicle or body bolster 29 having side bearing support assembly 29a at the inner portion of the stub sill. It is to be noted that the longitudinally extending plate portions of each of the pitching members 19, 20, 26 and 27 are facing one another and the transverse extending portions of each of the pitching members are directed outwardly of one another, thereby defining the L-shaped configuration of each member.

The open type non-torque box construction just described provides for a pair of end spaced apart stub center sills which take butt and draft forces and transmit them into the sides of the cars via end shear plates 14, and the finger or pitching structural arrangement as defined by the inner or bolster pitching elements 26 and 27 and the outer or end pitching elements 19 and 20. Draft forces imparted to a stub center sill tend to pitch the center sill upwardly, producing downwardly extending reacting forces in each of the bolster finger elements and upwardly extending reacting forces in each of the end finger elements,

Whereas buff forces imparted to a center end stub sill induce upwardly extending reacting forces in the bolster fingers and downwardly extending reacting forces in the end fingers. The inner and outer finger members may be considered to be like the lug portions of a wrench and the inner and outer portions of the stub sill may be considered a nut held between the inner and outer fingers, the fingers resisting any movement of the stub sill in a longitudinal plane about a transverse horizontal axis of the car. Any action or force on the center sill creates a reaction couple on the center sill, the couple force being in a vertical longitudinally extending plane which, in turn, creates a reaction couple in a finger or pitching assembly which is a couple that is in a longitudinally extending vertical plane. The load or coupler forces act on the center sill in either buff or draft, that is, in impact or in pull. This load or force is taken out to the sides of the car by the shear plate beam. In doing this, the load is transferred upward and causes a pitching of the center sill which is then reacted by the aforementioned four fingers 19, 20, 26 and 27. There is a horizontal reaction that is taken into the shear plate beam and reacted at the side sills. The end fingers 19 and 20 react on the end beams 18 which carry the load into the sides of the car at the top. The bolster fingers 26 and 27 react on the bolster web 13 which carries the load into the sides of the car at the bolster post. .Thus, the sides of the car become the beaming members for all of the loads mentioned above. Such a unique arrangement provides for a high strength but low weight structural assembly providing for an open type non-torque box which is easily accessible to fabrication of parts to form the open non-torque box. Thus, we are able to provide a higher strength car and a better stub sill design that is lighter in weight.

The end beam, shear plate beam and bolster Web beam and the pitching members are interconnected to one another by welding. The hopper car of the instant application is of the center sill-less type, as previously stated. The term center sill-less refers to a pair of end stub center sills, as distinguished from a center sill which is a through center sill from one end to the other end of the car.

The foregoing description and drawings are given merely to explain and illustrate the invention, and the invention is not to be limited thereto since those skilled in the art who have the disclosure before them will be able to make modifications and variations therein without departing from the scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. In a center sill-less railroad freight car having opposed end portions connected by side structures, an end of car construction for each end of the car comprising:

a stub center sill,

a horizontal shear plate beam mounted on the stub center sill,

a vertical transversely extending bolster lweb beam mounted over the vehicle bolster and being directly attached to the side structures of the car and to the shear plate beam for transferring loads from the stub center sill to the side structures of the car, and

pitching structure in the form of substantially vertically extending elongated beaming means mounted on the stub center sill and extending upwardly therefrom and connecting with the upper central end portion of the car for transferring loads from the stub center sill vertically into the upper central end portion of the car and then to the side structures of the car.

2. The invention according to claim 1, and

inner pitching structure in the form of substantially vertically extending elongated beaming means mounted on the bolster web beam and connecting with the inner portion of the stub center sill and extending upwardly therefrom for transferring the load from the inner portion of the stub center sill to the bolster web beam to the side structures of the car.

3. The invention according to claim 2, and

said inner pitching structure comprising a beam structure mounted on said bolster web and extending substantially vertically upwardly from said shear plate at the inner portion thereof.

4. The invention according to claim 3, and

said inner pitching beam structure comprising a pair of upright beams extending from the side portions of the inner part of the stub center sill.

5. The invention according to claim 1, and

said pitching structure comprising a beam structure extending substantially vertically upward from the outer end of the stub center sill and shear plate beam to the upper central end portion of the car at each end thereof.

6. The invention according to claim 5, and

said pitching beam structure comprising a pair of vertically extending laterally spaced apart beam members extending upwardly from and connected to the respective side portions of the stub center sill and extending to and connected to the upper end portion of the car.

7. In a center sill-less railroad car having a pair of end of car structures interconnected with one another by side structures wherein each side structure comprises an upper longitudinally extending side plate and a lower longitudinally extending side sill and a plurality of longitudinally spaced upright side posts, each end of car construction comprising:

a stub center sill spaced away from the inner portion of the car,

a horizontal shear plate mounted on the top of the sill and extending to each side sill,

a bolster web beam connecting with the shear plate and extending vertically and transversely of the car and up from the inner portion of the center sill and extending laterally to and connecting with a side post on each side of the car,

said car having an outer upper end portion connecting wit-h each of the respective ends of the side plates,

end pitching structure in the form of substantially vertically extending elongated beaming means extending between and connecting with the outer portion of the center sill and centrally of the upper end portion and inner pitching structure in the form of substantially vertically extending elongated beaming means being mounted on the inside of said upright bolster web beam and connecting with the inner portion of said stub center sill,

each of said pitching structures preventing pitch-ing of the center sill about a transverse horizontal axis.

-8. The invention according to claim 7, and

said car end construction being provided with a slope sheet and said center sill being spaced outwardly and away from said slope sheet to define an open nontorque box construction between the slope sheet, the shear plate, and the bolster Web beam, the latter beam at its upper end connecting with the slope sheet.

9. The invention according to claim 7, and

wherein each of said pitching structures comprise a pair of upright parallel beam structures, spaced apart laterally of one another.

10. A railroad car end construction comprising:

an end stub center sill,

side portions,

an upper car end beam attached to the side portions,

a shear plate mounted on the stub sill,

a transversely extending upright bolster Web beam mounted on the shear plate and extending laterally and connecting directly with the side portions,

an upright end pitching structure in the form of substantially vertically extending elongated beaming means connecting the central portion of the upper end beam with the outer end of the stub center sill, and

an upright inner bolster pitching structure connecting the inner end of the stub center sill with the upright bolster web beam.

11. A hopper railroad car end construction comprising:

a hopper slope sheet,

an end stub center sill,

side portions,

an upper car end beam attached to the side portions and to the slope sheet,

a shear plate mounted on the stub center sill and spaced outwardly of the slope sheet,

a transversely extending upright bolster web beam mounted on the shear plate and extending upward to and joining with the slope sheet and extending laterally and connecting with the side portions,

an upright end pitching structure in the form of substantially vertically extending elongated beaming means connecting the central portion of the upper end beam with the outer end of the stub center sill, and

an upright inner bolster pitching structure in the form of substantially vertically extending elongated beaming means connecting the inner end of the stub center sill with the upright bolster web beam.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Kadel et a1 105-226X Keithley 105-249 Hansen 105-248 Christianson 105-248 Dodds 105-250 Olden 105-247 Dodds 105-251 Weaver 105-247 Weaver 105-250 Cartzdafner 105-248 Kassler et a1 105-253 Glaser et a1. 105-406 Rollins 302-52 Charles et a1 105-248 Halcomb 105-406X US. Cl. X.R. 

